5 February | EVERYONE
“When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a leprous sore, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests." Leviticus 13: 2
To be pure as spring water was the divine ideal for the people of Israel. Water free from the dust of the road; a water of life where the fish look for their place. And not a germ-infested swamp nor standing water full of bacteria. Therefore, one of the dominant themes of the book of Leviticus is impurity. It is full of instructions for proceeding when a person was contaminated. In His wisdom, God established sanitary laws to prevent the proliferation of diseases (Then, as we saw a few days ago, the people of Israel who were wandering through the desert did not have hospitals and clinics to treat themselves.). These rules and instructions, moreover, served as a metaphor for the fact that impurity transgressed the covenant between God and His people. The people were to avoid anything that would contaminate them.
Impurity separated the Israelites from God, from sacred things like the temple, and even from their family. An unclean man or woman could not even come near the temple. Lepers were taken away from their family. Impurity was almost always associated with contact with corpses, with diseases, with hemorrhages, and with leprosy, which was practically the death of a living person. That impurity or defilement was the perfect metaphor for sin and its sad consequences on human life. Isn't that just what sin does in people's lives?
Did sin touch your life in any way? You may not see the impurity itself, but you see the consequences: unwillingness to pray, to study the Word, to share your faith with others, lack of interest in the things of the church, and a heart burdened by some sin secretly cherished. It leads to a decayed life, as if a malignant hemorrhage that consumes the good you have. What should we do then? In Israel, the purification of a person was basically done by the blood of animals. In the same way, in the spiritual life only the blood of Christ can cleanse us from all sin and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Take Action
Take hold of the merits of Christ today, and ask Him for strength to keep you amid the world but free from everything that can defile your body, mind, and spirit.